Dolby Laboratories, the company that helps notebook manufacturers like Acer, HP, and Toshiba deliver custom digital sound packages for skinny machines with even skinnier speakers, unboxed the next generation of its audio software suites today.

Two software bundles, Dolby Home Theater version 4 and the less feature-filled Dolby Advanced Audio version 2, have been improved with a more streamlined, easy-to-use interface with custom audio profile settings and software features that make listening to music and watching movies with laptops a more entertaining media experience.

New features in Home Theater version 4 include sound processing software like Surround Decoder, which creates a surround sound experience by manipulating audio output from stereo or two-channel audio speakers to more closely resemble 5.1 surround sound (it can also make 5.1 channel surround sound resemble 7.1 surround sound).

Also new are sound tools like Dialog Enhancer, which increases the clarity of dialog spoken in movies and on television, and Dolby Digital Output, a tool that converts PC audio signals to Dolby digital signals for better room-level quality when a notebook is connected to a home theater system.

There are also useful features for stabilizing the change in sound that occurs when a user switches between audio modes. For instance, a feature called Intelligent Equalizer reviews graphic equalizer settings and can apply those settings across different listening modes on a PC, be it YouTube video watched in the browser or soft, acoustic jazz played in iTunes. A similar feature, Volume Leveler, creates an even soundscape across varying audio experiences, so jumping from calm, instrumental music back into an explosive action movie won't include sudden assaults of noise due to variance in the audio settings of the two programs.

Notebook media lovers who like their sound loud will appreciate a feature called Volume Maximizer. That tool raises the max volume achievable on a notebook. It packs an estimated 6 to 9 decibel gain, according to Dolby.

The latest Dolby software suites will ship on the Acer Aspire Ethos multimedia notebooks and the Aspire Z Series all-in-one PC.

For more details, check out Dolby's YouTube video below or read more at www.dolby.com